Ask about Judaism

[FinallyFree]

Thanks so much for that answer! So if historically the early Christians did not use instruments, it was possibly because of a holdover from the Jewish practice because of the destruction of the temple, and not because there was anything wrong with using instruments in praising God. This makes sense to me.

[agricola]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUUClpl_vTQ

That's Craig Taubman's tune for Lecha Dodi (a classic of Friday night services). The video is just stills but you can see people were clapping and often singing along. (I am acquainted with Craig Taubman, and would recommend his CD's very highly).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNiX91UYOjQ
That one is a new tune, debuted this year at Central Synagogue.

(Lecha Dodi is 'come my beloved' and it dates back to the middle 1500's in Safed, Israel, where it was composed (as a poem) by the kabbalists there - it is a song welcoming the arrival of Shabbat (the Sabbath Queen)).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qclBcUQtvKE

And here's a klezmer (traditional Eastern European) take on the same song.

then this is more traditional also - (it is likely these guys and the previous ones are not playing on Shabbat, but before Shabbat begins - they are clearly orthodox. Since Lecha Dodi is WELCOMING the Sabbath, you can play instruments for that song since it is usually sung just BEFORE the service starts).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpGE3sD4pqU

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now THESE guys are A CAPELLA ONLY - the Maccabeats are rabbinical students at Yeshiva U in New Yorks, and although you may THINK you are hearing instruments, they are entirely a capella - those aren't drums, you aren't hearing anything except vocal music - cool huh? The tune they use is Leonard Cohen's (Broken) Hallelujah -
This video includes the lyrics in English too -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWmcQpzUMHY

And here they are in person - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an8envEAzDU

[FinallyFree]

I watched most of the videos. Very interesting. Thanks!

[agricola]

That's all the same song, just different tunes and treatments.

When I first started going to synagogue, I used to ask for a 'songbook' and I got all these perplexed looks. No such thing exists. Some congregations - occasionally - may have some song SHEETS but all that would be are pages with lyrics (no musical notation). You learn songs by hearing them and repeating them - and any song you know may (and likely will) have at least two or three (or more) 'official tunes'.

A popular Shabbat song is Adon Olam, and it can be sung to ANY tune with a nice four beats - and I've successfully sung it to the theme from William Tell (the Lone Ranger tune) and also to 'I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener'. It also goes quite well with 'I am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger' but that's kind of unusual to hear, because it is so 'churchy'.

Quite often what the Maccabeats do, is pick a popular song, and use the tune for a traditional song. They did that with Lecha Dodi (previous post) and they did it with several popular holiday songs, especially around Chanukah.

This was one of their first videos and it went viral about five years ago -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkGuaTAD920

They put this next one out last year (a nais (or nes) is a miracle):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wi1H3UnKhk

For Passover - this one is very cool -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZgDNPGZ9Sg

Or a popular Jewish genre song will be reworked for their a capella style, like Matisyahu's One Day: (Matisyahu is a Jewish reggae performer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLDl8fbJx0I

Then they also write their own stuff - this one is original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfieP6H47lc

[margin overa]

This morning in church, we sang "Open Your Ears", which is based on the Hebrew folk song "Yisrael V'oraita" - a beautiful minor key melody.

[agricola]

A lot of 'Jewish' music tends to sound like it is in a minor key to us. The musical tradition is different. But (as the links above illustrate) Jews have always 'borrowed' the musical genres of the surrounding culture. It goes both ways, too (as you have shown).

But there are some traditional Jewish songs (like Shalom Aleichem) which persist in sounding 'melancholy' to me, even though they are really quite cheerful!

Most synagogue singing which I've heard has been kind of meh. Few people actually know how to sing (sing, not chant) and the few songs which occur during the service are just the melody line, there is rarely any attempt at harmonizing. However, much of the service itself is CHANTED and there are short passages that are 'song' (or song-like). The key word there is SHORT. There are only two or three actual songs with verses.

You'll hear a little more on a Friday night, which is often more casual. Or you might get lucky and have a really good cantor (prayer-leader) except then you are mostly listening to HIM (or occasionally her) do solos, rather than leading the whole congregation in a song (sometimes, just not too often).

There's often a lot of singing though - after dinner! Jewish tradition places the main prayer thanking God for food AFTER you eat (when everybody is happy) and Grace After Meals is several minutes long even in the short version. Grace after Meals is also chanted but there are a fair number of sung passages, and (depending on the group of people) often there will be a song session after Grace is finished (Grace After Meals in the long version is eight to ten minutes long) which may last ten minutes to an hour or longer (especially on Shabbat at summer camp!).

(Grace is after the meal, because in the Hebrew Bible there is a verse saying 'and you shall eat and be satisfied and thank the Lord your God....'. So the prayer before eating is one line, but the prayer AFTER eating is the main 'thanks'.)

[margin overa]

A lot of 'Jewish' music tends to sound like it is in a minor key to us. The musical tradition is different. But (as the links above illustrate) Jews have always 'borrowed' the musical genres of the surrounding culture. It goes both ways, too (as you have shown).

That's certainly true...just like lots of Spanish traditional music, which is heavily influenced by the musical scales and traditions of the North African Muslims and the Sephardic Jewish who lived there - that sound is often heard as "melancholy" to us, whether or not the song itself is intended as a lament or similar theme.

[Dodger]

I've noticed that the Jewish music is the only I've heard that makes a song in a minor key sound happy

[agricola]

I don't know - Sholom Aleichem is certainly a 'happy' song but it always sound melancholy to me. But my kids have positive connections to it, and it sounds like a 'happy' song to them, despite the minor key. I can blame Jewish summer camp for that, I guess!

[agricola]

So - since this is a hot topic on another thread - what DOES Judaism (as a faith, not Jews individually) believe about death and resurrection?

h**p://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/life-a ... afterdeath#